The FBI has stated that it will not divulge any secret documents or information about President Bola Tinubu to the public.
The United States federal agency announced this on Monday in response to a litigation filed by an American activist, Aaron Greenspan, in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.
According to the FBI and other law enforcement agencies, the plaintiff (Greenspan) is only attempting to re-argue a position on which the court has already ruled.
The agencies asked the court to refuse the plaintiff’s application for reconsideration, saying that based on the previous decision, they did not intend to reveal documents concerning the Nigerian leader, even if they had them, because he is entitled to privacy.
“The Court properly characterized that motion as a motion for a temporary restraining order and determined that the plaintiff did not satisfy his burden of showing that he would succeed on the merits as to FOIA exemptions and irreparable injury is likely, and the balance of equities favor him or granting the motion would further the public interest because Tinubu has privacy interests that should be considered,” the agencies said.
Greenspan is attempting to compel the FBI, the CIA, and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to reveal documents concerning Tinubu and one Mueez Adegboyega Akande.
The activist had asked the court to review its decision on October 23, which had rejected his emergency motion for the release of the documents and information sought in the substantive litigation he filed under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
Greenspan had, in June this year, filed the civil suit, with number: 23 – 1816 under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), against the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys (EOUSA), Department of State (DOS), Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI), Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
He alleged that the defendants – EOUSA, DOS, FBI, IRS, DEA and the CIA violated the FOIA by “failing to issue determinations within the statutory deadline,” “failing] to conduct reasonable searches for records,” and “failing to produce records responsive to” his FOIA requests.
Greenspan had, in the FOIA request to the EOUSA, sought “records from the Northern District of Illinois and/or Northern District of Indiana involving charging decisions for the following individuals – Bola Ahmed Tinubu (President of Nigeria as of 2/2023” and “Mueez Adegboyega Akande (deceased as of 11/16/2022.”
He informed the court, among other things, that his desire for the records to be released quickly, even before the October 31 hearing, was because “the Nigerian Supreme Court will hear an appeal of a judicial tribunal’s decision confirming Tinubu as President of Nigeria on Monday, October 23, 2023.”
Greenspan alleged that the Nigerian Supreme Court purposefully pushed the hearing of Atiku and Obi’s appeals to October 23 in order to render his petition before the US court nugatory, claiming that the papers he sought “would likely be directly relevant to the foreign proceedings in Nigeria.”
Greenspan failed to fulfill the key conditions for the issuance of his plea for temporary relief, as included in the emergency hearing motion he submitted on October 20, according to Judge Beryl Howell of the US District Court for the District of Columbia in his October 23 judgment.
Greenspan also failed to establish that he was likely to succeed on the merits; that he would suffer irreparable harm if the preliminary relief he sought was not granted; that the balance of equities tips in his favor; and that the relief he seeks is in the public interest, according to Judge Howell.
Meanwhile, President Tinubu’s attorneys have asked the court to make them a party so that they can defend the President in the litigation.
